Aznar accused of cover-up as Spain mourns its dead

Spain began burying its dead yesterday as pressure grew for the government to come up with a convincing explanation for a tragedy whose death toll reached 200.

Today's general election has been completely overshadowed by Thursday's horrific terrorist attacks on Madrid commuter trains, as Prime Minister José Maria Aznar and his government were accused of a politically-motivated cover-up.

A growing undercurrent of opinion questioning the official line that the Basque separatist terror group ETA is the main suspect and blaming Aznar for holding back information was circulating through Madrid and other major cities last night.

Interior Minister Angel Acebes was forced yesterday to make a statement on the issue: 'The government has not twisted or hidden the evidence. We have made information clear with all transparency. There has been no covering up.'

Acebes denied that any senior investigator had told him that al-Qaeda was to blame. But Spain's main radio station SER last night quoted intelligence sources claiming they were 99 per cent sure the attack was carried out by between 10 and 15 Islamic extremists who planted the bombs, fled and may already have left Spain.

Observers believe an ETA attack is likely to favour Aznar's People's Party and one by al-Qaeda to help the Socialists, so the question of who planted the 10 bombs is a key election issue.

Socialist leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is reported to have told his party to avoid any debate on 'a cover-up' while the dead are being buried and some of the 266 in hospital are still fighting for their lives.

One senior Socialist said: 'I have been biting my tongue all day in the face of such lies and deceit while there are 200 dead people.'

For many voters in Madrid it will be a day of both voting and going to funerals. Most Spaniards still appear to blame ETA. However, the demonstrations that brought an estimated 10 million people on to the streets on Friday showed signs that some were upset with the government.

The People's Party leader in Barcelona, Josep Pique, was booed and some cries against ETA in Madrid were answered with whistling. Banners opposing Aznar's support for the Iraq war appeared among the sea of anti-terrorism and anti-ETA banners. 'Iraq, Madrid, where next? Who next?' read the banner carried by civil servant Marino Gallego and two friends in Madrid.

Aznar's conservative People's party and his hand-picked successor, Mariano Rajoy, were ahead of the Socialists by between three to five points in opinion polls published last weekend. But, the same polls said, the ruling party would struggle to keep its absolute majority and might have to govern with the support of regional parties.

A flurry of text messages and emails began to circulate around the country, accusing the government of lying and saying Spain's intelligence services believed al-Qaeda was to blame. There was no firm proof that evidence was being held back yesterday but the left-leaning El País newspaper produced details of the attacks from anonymous police sources which appeared to show the investigation was far more advanced than had been made public.

It quoted various sources as saying they disagreed with the government's line that ETA was the main suspect and claimed information on the case was not reaching the investigating magistrates.

Aznar's government, which had made 'no negotiating' with ETA a key part of its campaign, concluded that the terror group was to blame within hours of the attack, as experts expressed caution.

Acebes became the first official to state categorically ETA did it. Five hours after the attack he said: 'Unfortunately, on this occasion ETA has managed its objective. The government has no doubt whatsoever.'

As he spoke, police were inspecting a van in the commuter town of Alcalá de Henares that contained detonators, traces of explosives and a tape of Koranic verses.

The government's concern that the ETA attribution was being greeted with too much scepticism saw officials ringing journalists to spell out their reasons for believing the group, whose attacks have claimed 850 victims over 35 years, had committed the atrocity. Aznar rang the director of at least one newspaper himself.

The Madrid correspondents from at least two British broadsheets, including The Observer, also received unsolicited calls from Aznar's office on Thursday, before the van find, with a list of reasons why ETA was almost certainly to blame.

'You should take every opportunity to confirm ETA's responsibility in these brutal attacks,' Foreign Minister Ana Palacio instructed her ambassadors in a note sent on Thursday afternoon.

The explosives used, named by officials as Titadine, was said to typical of ETA. But Acebes later confirmed the explosives found in the unexploded bomb was actually Goma 2. After examining it, intelligence officers are said to be veering away from ETA as the culprit.

Yesterday Acebes said no sign had yet been found of suicide bombers among the dead. International experts were still undecided, with many prepared to believe that ETA could be to blame, having changed its tactics to all-out slaughter.

Opinions as to what would happen in today's vote varied yesterday, though most believe the massacre will raise the turnout.

'The right will almost certainly do better because of this,' said Gloria, a Madrid teacher who lost one of her former pupils on Thursday.

'If there are more voters it might bring out more of the Left,' said Juan, a doctor who will also vote in the capital.